Harry Potter Star Emma Watson Distances Herself from 50 Shades of Grey Movie Role

She had been tipped as the frontrunner to take on the female lead in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie adaptation of the bestseller.

But Emma Watson has now ruled herself out of a starring role playing protagonist Anastasia Steele.

The 22-year-old British actress, who found fame as schoolgirl Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise, ventured onto Twitter earlier this week to quash the rumours for good.

"Who here actually thinks I would do 50 Shades of Grey as a movie? Like really. For real. In real life," Watson tweeted to her 5.9 million followers.

After hundreds of fans responded insisting that they didn't believe Watson would ever sign up for the erotic role, she later added: "Good. Well that's that sorted then."

The rumour mill went into overdrive after a hacker team penetrated the internal server of German studio Constantin Film, stealing a document that reportedly showed that Watson was attached to the highly-anticipated film.

Hollywood actresses Scarlett Johansson and Kristen Stewart are also said to be in talks with producers about starring as Christian Grey's love interest in the movies based on EL James' mega-selling bondage novel.

Ian Somerhalder is the favourite to play the mysterious Christian Grey, who introduces Anastasia to the world of bondage and erotica.

James has choosen The Social Network's Michael de Luca and Dana Brunetti to produce the movie.